1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to semiconductor processing, and more particularly to semiconductor chip devices with interposers and methods of making and using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
All integrated circuits require electrical power to operate, and packaged integrated circuits, which consist of a semiconductor chip mounted on a package substrate, are no exception. Power is normally delivered to integrated circuits via a power supply and some form of power delivery network. Although currently-available power supplies are designed to supply stable voltages, the actual power delivered to integrated circuits can contain significant amounts of noise. There are many sources of noise, such as voltage fluctuations caused by transient currents due to on-die switching devices, other devices coupled to the power supply, electromagnetic interference and other causes.
Packaged integrated circuits use decoupling capacitors to lower noise on the power supply. Some of these decoupling capacitors are located on the package substrate. Others may be located on-die. In many conventional semiconductor chip package substrates, the resistive losses in the capacitive networks is low enough that resonance becomes a problem.
One conventional technique for addressing the problem of resonance, particularly in package devices, involves fabricating doped polysilicon resistors on-die to provide damping of the capacitive networks. Another technique involves fabricating buried on-die resistors. In either case, the capability to provide sufficient resistive damping may be limited due to die size and complexity. Still another conventional technique requires fabrication of controller equivalent series resistance (ESR) capacitors to be mounted on a package substrate. To make such devices, resistive elements must be added to a capacitor, sometimes at great cost.
The present invention is directed to overcoming or reducing the effects of one or more of the foregoing disadvantages.